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City Brief contacted the team at Argon looking to bring a free, light and easy guide to the streets of Adelaide. An informational guide in 'Twitter form'. However, unlike the vast majority of tourist guides found littered throughout the jam-packed stands in poky visitor centres, this modern take was designed to attract viewers and advertisers alike.

Which Video Hosting site is the best for my Business?

‘Oooh look, a video’.

Unsurprisingly this statement will often result in the quotee being captivated by a series of ‘funny cat’ clips. However, despite the online saturation from our furry friends, streaming videos are one of the most powerful ways that a business can promote themselves to their target market.

Having a video posted online helps increase viewer engagement and the ability to share (and effectively market) any piece of content. Therefore it’s no surprise more and more companies are incorporating this into their marketing and branding strategies. Which leads to the question, which hosting site should you use?

There are hundreds of video hosting sites out in the ether, most of which you’ve probably never stumbled across. However Youtube, Vimeo, Vevo, Dailymotion and Metacafe have all become somewhat household names – but for business it really boils down to the two heavyweights. Youtube in the red corner up against Vimeo in the blue.

Outlined below are some individual qualities for each site and how they relate to business – all in a bid to help decide which is your video brand champion.

What’s good.

Who doesn’t love free stuff! One of the great aspects of Youtube is that any business can sign up for a free account; it’s so easy!

It’s also the undisputed most popular video sharing platform in the world, by far. I’m not talking about an even fight, it’s a knock out blow. More users equals more opportunities for people to see your wares. Every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views. In 2015, 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube!

What’s not so good.

Supported by the previous mention of cat videos, thediffering quality of YouTube content often hovers somewhere between the weird and the downright baffling. With such a swarm of unfiltered content being uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day of every year, there’s little chance it’s all quality. If you’re attempting to position yourself as a leader in your industry, having a dancing cat popping up next your video may deter some clients.

Also, as a result of its popularity, Youtube users are more likely to have their competitors videos uploaded to the site. The fact is Youtube wants it’s viewers to stay tuned in so they’ll suggest relatable videos using your keywords, often presenting a direct link to your rivals.

Finally, every employer or manager is mindful of how much work actually gets done on their watch, which has lead to the site being blocked in many offices. This can be unfavourable if you’re endeavouring to reach workers throughout the day.

What’s good.

It can feel like you spend half your time on Youtube watching ads pop up and around your videos. Vimeo doesn’t do advertisements (and thank heavens for that). Without that annoyance it’s far more likely that a potential client will watch your videos the whole way through.

Content is king. Those shrewd words have never been truer than when comparing these two video hosting heavyweights. As it’s far less known (less likely to be spammed) and because of the restrictions in place (mentioned in the ‘not so good’ section) Vimeo videos are more likely to be complimented by clips with a much higher level of quality.

As the Vimeo content is better constructed, on top of the site being more niche, there is a better chance that only interested parties are viewing your videos. These viewers are more likely to use your services and remember your business moving forward.

What’s not so good.

Alright, now for a mood killer – it’s not free. Unfortunately, because of the lack of advertising something had to give. You knock out one beast and another pops up. I guess they have to make their money somehow. The silver lining is that Vimeo have kept their plans relatively cost effective, including a free ‘basic’ plan that helps get your feet wet.

Unlike Youtube, there are upload limitations. Even the most expensive plans have a ceiling so if you’re intending to flood the market this may not be the way to go.

Despite having 170 million viewers a month worldwide in 2015, Vimeo still had nowhere near the numbers that Youtube pulls and will continue to pull as their site grows onwards and upwards.